Its a good build: Be careful with the KCNC crank, I snapped one at the pedal screw thread as, due to the drilling out of the crank arm, its a stress concentration. After maybe 5000kms? . Creaking may be your first indication

Nothing fancy to add to this thread, its aluminium so it meets the thread criteria but is only a winter bike. Whilst its far from lustworthy I really can't grumble about it as it does exactly what i need it to do, and it does it all rather well!Spec is nothing special, SRAM Rival, Campag Shamal wheels, basic 3T bar and stem etc.Weighs in at 8kg without the mudguards ( not shown ), or a fraction less than 8.4kg with, which seems fairly respectable for a winter hack.

Is it just me, or do more forum members wonder why aluminium seems to have become a niche for high(er) end bikes? Carbon has become the material for competition bikes but steel and titanium still have their place as they are considered "classic" and "sexy". Why is it that aluminium failed to remain an attractive material for frame building?

_________________And if I ever meet an aardvark, I'm going to step on its damn protruding nasal implement until it couldn't suck up an insect if its life depended on it.

Carbon has become the material for competition bikes but steel and titanium still have their place as they are considered "classic" and "sexy". Why is it that aluminium failed to remain an attractive material for frame building?

A large part of of that is because of marketing and economics.

Aluminum has become so cheap and commonplace in our everyday lives. The ease at which aluminum can be manufactured and hydroformed into different tube shapes has driven its cost down. You can buy department store bikes for $30. Aluminum technology has "matured", there is very little that can be done with improving it.

People relate "cheap" to "inferior".

Carbon fiber is a "new" technology, even if CF has been around since the 1960s. Manufacturing carbon fiber frames is a labor-intensive process (and carbon lay-up critical), which tends to drive the cost of manufacture up.

Titanium is hard to work with, literally. This generally limits tube shapes to straight ones. Titanium manufacturing is a specialty and this drives its cost up. Its availability to a small market makes it more desirable.

Steel is well, steel. Like aluminum steel technology is already matured. Since it has fallen from the mainstream choice of frame material it has acquired a "classic" status. There's always a market for classic things - the oldies and the fans.

A lot of people buy bikes knowing very little (I'm putting myself on the wire here) of the technical merits of the frame material. Most of them just buy into the marketing put forward by the companies, driven by the market and social economics.

Quote:

Is it just me, or do more forum members wonder why aluminium seems to have become a niche for high(er) end bikes?

Companies like Cannondale has heavily invested in developing aluminum (the CAAD). Giant has always made their high-end TCR line to include aluminum. Other companies like Specialized have "resurrected" aluminum as well.

When people hear aluminum they think "common". But these companies are doing something new and different with aluminum. And being "different" sells.

^^^^^Reply pretty much spot on. As a material or technology becomes mainstream having reached a perceived zenith of development, it becomes less "interesting" to a certain market niche (crazy people like us). While it is true that there are some aluminium frames out there that exhibit the worst of the commonly held perceptions about this material (vibration, lousy feedback etc) there are many that are beautiful to ride and a bargain as well. At 53kg, my Giant seems to handle extremely well and feels more than stiff enough on climbs. To my weird logic I value this bike more than my others as I know that If I destroy the frame I can replace it for about $300. With my carbon bike, I dreaded every nick and scratch. Again-perception. I'll build up the Pro Lite with the parts left from my Cervelo and see how it feels. If it is comfortable over 180km I'll leave it as is. If is is harsh, It will become my rain bike (of which I seem to be building quite a collection...). I remember lusting after the first Klien road frames in, what, 1980? They seemed otherworldly at the time.

There was also a German or Scandinavian (iirc) brand who made unreal alu frames. Chain Reaction had them. There were some threads on here. The name escapes me for the time being, but damn I was close to pulling the trigger on one. There was just an issue with the headsets that put me off it...

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 20 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum